Panem High
by shipithardcore
Summary: Katniss Gale and everyone else live in Chicago, the hunger games has never been heard of, and they all go to panem high. What kinda drama's gonna go down?
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so I just want to give some warnings. In this Katniss and Gale are the same age, Katniss is a different age when her dad dies in the book. And there are honestly a lot of different things. But the characters are very true to who they are in the book and its my story so if you dont like it you dont have to read it. But I like constructive criticism so please leave some...also i need shipping ideas if anyone wants to leave some of their ideas thatd be great.**

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My name is Katniss Eveerdeen. I am sixteen years old. And my life is confusing as fuck.

Okay so why don't I tell you a little about myself? As you know my name is Katniss and I'm sixteen. Also, I go to Panem High, a newly built public high school in Chicago. My dad was a construction worker when he died, I was eight years old. My best, and one of my only friends, Gale Hawethorn's dad was working with my dad when a frame for the building fell, crushing them both. I met Gale the next week at my fathers funeral. He was eight too.

**FLASHBACK**

"_Who are you?" I looked up at the boy standing next to me. He had grey eyes, black hair, and olive skin. _

"_I'm Gale, my dad died too." He looked down at me. He didn't look like he was about to cry, like I was, he look like he had accepted his fathers death._

"_Oh, well I'm Katniss." _

"_Nice to meet you." _

"_Nice to meet you too."_

**END OF FLASHBACK**

It hadn't seemed like much, but ever since then we have been inseparable. Gale has three younger siblings; Rory, Vick, and Posy. I have one, Prim. Gale and I work part time at the local grocery store to help our mothers bring in some money. Gale's mother and my mother have also become inseparable since the deaths of our fathers. Before we knew it our families were having dinner together almost every night and our mothers had gotten the same job as nurses in the local hospital.

So anyways my old high school, Seneca High, had been….. Destroyed thanks to some stupid seniors and some illegal fireworks. I really hadn't known anyone at my old high school, freshmen were considered absolute losers and no one had liked me except for Gale and Madge. Madge's father was a big political guy, I don't even know what for, and no one really liked her. On the first day Gale and I were just sitting together at lunch and she just came up and sat with us. We didn't really have any objections so, with time, we all became friends. We were all going to attend Panem High in the fall. See, in Chicago we don't just attend the closest school. We apply to a school that could cultivate our talents. Fashionistas would probably go to Cinna's Beauty School, people interested in political and military would attend President Snow's Military Academy, and people interested in the theater would attend Ceaser Flickermans Acadamey For The Theatrical Arts. My school was for the kids who really didn't have any special talents, but now, since it was gone some of us were going to attend the snooty rich kid school. Panem High School. Gale, Madge, and I had all been enrolled over the summer, during which time Gale and I had worked five days out of seven and, on the weekends, Madge and I would sometimes hangout and go see a movie. I have no idea what everyone's obsession with Twilight is…. If I was the vampire guy I would've killed that annoying bitch and been done with it. But I'm getting off track here. Back to my life story. My sister might be the sweetest girl I've ever met and I will do anything for her. She had barely known my dad because she was only three when he died. She was going to go into sixth grade at Trinket Middle School. And that's really all you need to know about me and my family for now.

Today was one day before I started school at Panem and Gale and I had to go to work.

"Mom! I'm going to work now I'll be home at nine!" I looked at myself in the mirror before I left. I was wearing a tight fitting black t-shit with a 3Oh!3 logo on it. It was the first concert I had ever been to and Gale had snuck me in. I was also wearing black jeans and tie up boots that went to the middle of my calves. I grabbed my hoodie and my keys and ran out the door of our apartment.

I met Gale at the L station near our apartments and we got on the train.

"Hey Catnip." Gale side-hugged me as I ran up. He called me Catnip because when we first had dinner together my mother was so tired that she had taken our cat food and put it on our plates. And of course, I ate some of it. (Prim has a stupid cat and, trust me, if you get me going on that thing I will not stop)

"Hey Gale, are you ready for work?" I looked up at him. Lately I've been feeling strange when I'm around him. Like my heart beats faster and I just want to hug him and…Yeah for some reason he's been giving me girly feelings. I never have those.

"Oh totally, I just can't wait for Greasy Sae to freak out at every little thing I do." Gale said it in such a sarcastic tone that I had to giggle at him.

"Oh come on Gale, you know how sweet it was of her to give us this job, plus it's not her fault you somehow manage to fail at almost everything." I smiled at him and elbowed him in the rib. He pulled me closer and bear hugged me.

"Gale! Gale, get off! Hahaha!" I yelled into his arm.

"Oh shit, Katniss, we've got to go." Gale started running, pulling me along.

I looked up and saw the train was here. Gale and I sat on the train for about five minutes until it stopped at our stop. We got off and ran to the grocery store.

"Hey Greasy Sae we're here!" I yelled as I put on my apron.

"Oh hi Katniss and Gale. I know you guys have school tomorrow so I'm letting you two off at six today." Greasy Sae came out from behind a stack of boxes of new shipment.

"Oh come on, you just got this new stock. We're going to help you." Gale said, putting on his apron.

"Okay then, we'll close at five and get these boxes unpacked by six, sound like a plan you two?"

"Okay."

"Sounds good."

Work went by slowly. No one unusual came around and I just made the same sails that I usually made. One candy bar, chap stick, the newest People magazine, milk, etc. It would have been unbearable if Gale had not been there, our shift usually went from noon to nine, and it sucked. But we needed the money and Greasy Sae was willing to help us.

After we unpacked the boxes Gale and I went home and I got ready for school.

"Good night, Catnip."

"Night, Gale."

"I'll be at your place at six thirty, okay?"

"Okay, I'll have my mom make some breakfast."

"Sounds like a plan." Gale hugged me goodnight and i breathed in his scent. He smelled like chocolate and axe body spray.

"You smell like shit by the way." I said with a smile.

"Shut up." He turned and smiled at me as he walked away.

Then, a realization hit me.

I was not excited to go to school.

Not. At. All.

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**So what did you guys think of chapter one? I know it's leaning towards Galeniss but it might not for the whole story idk yet i still have to write chapter two. But yeah i need shipping ideas for the other characters! Help me out?:)**


	2. Chapter 2

**okay so this chapter is like all Galeniss because honestly i ship it hardcore. I've kind of started to introduce some new characters though. They'll all be important. I'd like to thank EmberLynn898Swamp for giving me the character Allison Davis, and I'd also like to thank IlLuSiOnRuSsIaN for helping me with some of the characters roles in the story. I hope you enjoy chapter two! Also, I'd like to make the disclaimer i do not own the hunger games or any of the characters, blah blah blah. **

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"Katniss, honey it's time for school!"

I opened my eyes. "Ugh, mom five more minutes."

"Honey, trust me, if I gave you five more minutes, you wouldn't have time to fix your hair and face and pick out a good outfit, and then you'll hate me more than you do right now."

"Ugh, fine."

I got out of bed and looked at myself in my floor to ceiling mirror, and holy shit was I grateful that my mother had woken me up. My hair was a rats nest, my face DEFINITELY needed a good scrub, and I realized that I had nothing to wear.

"I told you." My mother said as she walked out the door.

I looked at the clock. Five thirty A.M. That gave me enough time to get ready. I got up and jumped in the shower for about five minutes. When I got out I scrubbed my face, brushed my teeth, put my contacts in, and, after my hair was dry, braided my hair in one long braid. Then I went to my closet. I wanted to make an impression that no one should mess with me. That's the way I made it in my last school and that's the way I liked it. I picked out a tight fitting black shirt and black skinny jeans. Then I ran downstairs and looked at myself in the mirror. My gray eyes looked grayer (is that a word?) and my dark hair looked darker against my clothes. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl, a spoon, milk, and Froot Loops and ate. Then I walked up to the drier, which is right next to the kitchen, and grabbed some socks. I was putting them on when I heard a knock on the door. I knew it was Gale and my heart started racing. I pulled up my socks and slid across the hardwood towards the door. I opened the door and my heart started pounding. Gale was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, baggy jeans, a brown belt, and a black hoodie.

"You ready?" He asked as he walked in.

"No, not even. This is going to suck. Oh and sorry about no pre-prepared food, I don't know what happened to my mom making breakfast, but I guess she got distracted. I have Foot Loops though." I said.

As we sat down I gave him a bowl.

"Oh come on, Catnip, don't be such a downer. I mean, we'll be together. And we have Madge. Don't worry about it." Gale looked into my eyes, and I couldn't even stand it anymore. I stood up and sat down next to him. I looked into his eyes and leaned really close.

"Do you promise?"

"Katniss, of course I do." He leaned in towards me too.

"I need more than just a pinky promise this time Gale."

Gale leaned in, hesitant at first, then faster until our lips had met. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me off of his chair and onto his lap. Then just as soon as we had kissed. He pulled away.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that."

"I think I do." I heard a noise coming from upstairs. It must be Prim getting up. "Shit, Gale I think it's time we leave."

He pulled out his phone and checked the time. "Shit, let's go."

Gale slipped his fingers in between mine and we sprinted out the door.

"So what do you think it will be like?" I asked Gale as we got on the train.

"What? School? I think it'll be the same as Seneca High. Stupid." He said as we sat down.

"Yeah but do you think it'll be much bigger?"

"Probably. But none of that matters as long as you stay by my side."

I looked over at him and stared him in the eyes. Then he kissed me again just as the train stopped, and the doors opened. I heard a squeal and pulled my face away from Gale's. I looked up and saw Madge sunning towards us and sit next to Gale.

"O.M.G. you two were just KISSING! Are you two like official now?" Madge was practically screaming, and we were getting some strange looks.

"Madge, how about you shut the fuck up and we'll tell you, okay?" I said in a very low whisper.

"Okay, sorry, just tell me everything!"

We told her about the mornings previous events. It took the whole ride because, even though it was a two minute story, she kept interrupting about how cute we were every five minutes, so it took awhile.

"Okay, this is really exciting! First day and we already have a power couple! Now we just need to think of someone for me. I think I want a guy who's…"

I started to ignore her, and just when I had gotten comfortable with Gale, it was our stop. A swarm of teenagers flooded the exit of the train and Gale, Madge, and I had gotten split up. I decided to just follow the crowd to Panem. Apparently though, more than just Panem students got off at this spot. I saw some kids wearing _Snow Academy _shirts, and other's wearing shirts that said, '_Twirl For Me', _with a dancer with a long gown twirling. They probably went to Cinna's Beauty School.

While I was walking I bumped into someone.

"Oh God, I'm sorry." I said. I looked up into the face of a mean looking blond kid wearing a Snow Academy shirt with the words, '_I can either be like a rose, or a poison. You pick', _on the front.

"You better be, runt." He said. He looked me up and down with piercing blue eyes.

"Hey Katniss I finally found you. Who's this guy?" Gale came up behind me and put a protective hand on my shoulder.

"No one, Gale I just bumped into him." I said.

"My name's Cato, and the next time you bump into me, will be the last time you do anything." Said the boy, Cato, as he walked off and joined up with a girl with dark hair, who was also wearing a shirt for Snow's Academy, and a blond girl, who had a pin for Cinna's Beauty School on it.

"Damn, those people really posses school spirit." Gale said as he led me towards where Madge was standing.

"Yeah maybe their cheerleaders." I said sarcastically.

"Omg Katniss! Are you okay? I saw you bump into that really hot blond guy!" Madge said with sincere concern in her eyes. "Do you think he's darting anyone?"

"I don't know, he didn't really mention it to me when he was threatening my life Madge." I said as I stormed off.

We got to school and all I can say was that I was impressed. It was about four floors high with multiple colors surrounding the outside. The front of the campus had tetherball courts, a mini park, and a hell of a lot of students just standing around.

"Holy shit it looks like a unicorn barfed on this school." Gale said as we walked up. I laughed.

"I think It looks beautiful!" Madge said as she walked next to me.

"Leave it to Madge to find beauty even in the most hideous of places." I said.

I leaned into Gale and he put his arm around me. I had wanted to go for the 'don't mess with me' look, but right now it looked more like 'Goths in love' look. I was kind of alright with that.

"I think we're supposed to go into the auditorium." Madge said as we stood in front of the big pink and green front doors.

"Okay, but first we need to find the auditorium ." Gale said.

"Well there's only one way to do that." I said.

I pushed open the Blue and Gold door and all I could do was say, "What. The. Fuck?"

The first thing I noticed was that the walls were gold. I mean pure, one million dollar, gold. With a strange symbol on it. It looked like a bird with an arrow going through its feet, enclosed in a circle. I looked down at the floor. It looked pure silver and made loud clinking noises whenever someone walked over it… Which would probably be most of the time.

"I can't even believe this is real." Gale said. He was as in much awe as I was.

"It's so pretty!" Madge squeaked.

I noticed a sign that said 'All Freshmen And Transfers This Way' with an arrow pointing to a set of double doors, made out of wood.

"I'm guessing we go that way?" I said.

We walked through the doors into an auditorium that had a stage that took up half of the room. The other half had theater chairs, half of them full with new students. There was a section especially for transfers.

"Let's get a seat before their all taken." Madge whispered.

We followed her into a row with two other people in it. A red head, and a brunette.

"Hi I'm Madge, who are you?" Madge said with enthusiasm as she stuck out her hand to the redhead.

"I'm Jackie." Said the girl.

"Oh that's a lovely name! And who are you?" Madge turned towards the other girl sitting right next to her.

"I'm Allison. But you can call me Allie." The girl with the brown hair had a huge smile and it seemed like she had a bubbly personality. I knew her and Madge were going to be terribly annoying together.

"These are my friends, Katniss and Gale." Madge stated, pointing towards Gale and I.

"Hi." I said.

Gale just nodded his head towards them.

Everyone started to quiet down and a lady dressed in a pink blouse, pink skirt, and pink heels came onto the stage. She had so much makeup on that she looked like a clown and her hair was pink also. She looked like Paris Hilton had thrown up on her.

"Welcome, Welcome, freshmen and transfers," She shouted into the microphone. "This is a very special year for Panem High. This year, we have many students from Seneca High, which unfortunately burnt down."

"This lady looks crazier than Greasy Sae." Gale whispered to me. I giggled and hushed him playfully.

"I am Ms. Trinket. I am the principle of Panem's younger sister school, Trinket Middle School. I am also one of your counselors though, along with Mr. Abernathy. Oh Haymitch, do come out."

The crazy lady- I mean Ms. Trinket- left the stage and came back with a man who looked like he had gone to one to many happy hours. He was about 5'6, as tall as Ms. Trinket who was wearing heels, was almost bald, and looked like he could use and shave and a workout.

"Well hello, children, welcome to our magnificently overdressed prison." That got a few chuckles from the students.

"Oh Mr. Abernarthy, stop that. Well students, we must go. But here is your dean, Dean Undersee!"

I turned towards Madge. "I thought your dad was a political guy!"

Madge smiled sheepishly. "He was! But he also got his teaching degree. He's been the principle since last year but I was so embarrassed I didn't want to tell anyone. That's also why I didn't transfer here before."

"Madge, I cannot believe you sometimes." I gave her a sneer and turned around.

I don't know why I was mad, but it wasn't because her dad was the principle. That was no big deal. I think I was mad because she had kept a secret from me, and I didn't like that.

Mr. Undersee talked about the school and it's curriculum. After the assembly we were supposed to go outside of the auditorium and go to the table that corresponded with the first letter of our last names. Then, we would get our locks, locker numbers, and schedules. All of our books were already in our lockers, which I found pretty strange.

After the assembly we all walked out and saw the tables. All of them had signs on them, one said, 'A-J'. Another said, 'K-R', and the final one said, 'S-Z'. Gale and I stood in line for a good hour because so many people were in front of us. Madge was at the table next to us, but somehow she got her books much faster than us. Behind us was the red headed girl, Jackie, but I didn't really feel like talking to her, so it was just me and Gale. In the time we waited, we talked about how the year was going to suck and how he had heard that the whole staff was just a bunch of complete whack jobs. I said I believed it. We finally got to the front of the line where a lady in neon green asked for our names and five dollars for our locks. I went to pull the money out of my back pocket, but nothing was there.

"I can't find my money." I said in a sort of panic.

"Is there someone who could lend it to you?" Said the lady in green.

"Yes, I can." Gale pulled out his wallet and handed the lady a ten dollar bill. "That'll pay for my lock too." He said.

"Okay, here you two go, your lockers are down in the east wing," she pointed towards our left. "Please step aside."

As we walked down the halls I turned to Gale.

"Thanks for lending me the money." I said in a hushed voice. I never liked being dependant, even on Gale.

"Hey anything for you Catnip, but I thought you had twenty dollars that your mom gave you." Gale said as he scanned the numbers at the top of the lockers.

"I did, but I must have dropped it on the train or something. This is mine." we stopped in front of an orange and red locker.

"Hmm okay, well I'm buying lunch too, I guess." Gale said as I opened my locker.

"Gale I am so sorry, I will pay you back tomorrow I promise." I turned and stared straight into his grey eyes.

"Katniss, you don't have to pay me back. I would've bought you lunch anyways. Plus, we're kinda dating now so that means you get some benefits." He said with a wink.

"I'd rather have other benefits than free food, Gale." I said as I closed my locker and leaned against it.

Gale came up, dropped his schedule and lock, and put his arms on either side of me. "You'll get those too babe. After school. But, if you need a little reminder of what you're getting I'd be happy to oblige." He said lustfully.

I put my arms around his neck and pulled his head down so I could put his lips on mine. We stayed that way for about three minutes, just kissing while other kids went and found out where they were supposed to be. All of those people didn't matter though. All that mattered was that Gale and I were together.

"Honey, I've got to go, but I'll see you in first period." He said as he pulled away from me.

"Great, Geometry. Just kill me now." I hated math. It was my worst subject.

"Hey, maybe we'll get to pick our seats. We could sit next to each other, in the back of the class." Gale came so close to me that I could feel his breath on my face when he talked.

"Oh God I hope so." I said.

"I'll see you there!" Gale had already picked up his things and had begun to walk away.

"Okay!" I yelled back at him.

I opened my locker again and looked at my schedule, which I had sloppily dropped on my books and lock. I pulled out the things I needed for first and second period, Geometry and Spanish, closed my locker, put the lock on. And walked down towards my Geometry class.

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**okay so I really would like some shipping ideas for Madge. You guys can tell me who you want her to be with in the comments, or you can pm me if you want.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well this chapter is really long haha. The new character Devin 'Dusty' Hill was given to me by IlLuSiOnRuSsIaN. I hope you enjoy!**

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Our first day went by slowly. I walked into Geometry, and immediately wanted to shoot myself. The walls were bright pink and had a LOT of math posters on them. One had a boy who looked about ten writing probably the world's biggest math problem saying, 'Math, if he can do it, you can too.' Another one said, 'What part of (some really confusing math equation) don't you understand?"

Our teacher was standing in front of the white board. She had green hair that had been piled upon her head to look like some kind of vegie ice cream, with pencils sticking out of it. She wore a red blouse, and a tight black skirt that reached down to her kneecaps. She looked about 5'9 in her heels, which were gold and sparkly, and looked about 35 years old. Her name was written on the white board in black dry-erase marker. Ms. Murkafiddle.

I walked up to a desk in the back and put my books down when I felt two hands grab my sides and I jumped right into the air.

"Hey, calm down! It's only me, Catnip." I turned around to see Gale's face staring right into mine.

He kissed me quickly then pulled away and put his books on the desk next to mine.

"Ms. Murkafiddle? She had to have made that name up. There is no way in God's great America that anyone would be cursed with that name.

I laughed. "Yeah well I've noticed that this school seems to defy the norm."

"Eh true. Do you think she can actually teach?" He asked.

The bell rang. "I would hope so."

We sat down, and I scanned the room for any familiar faces. In front of me was that girl I met at the orientation, Allie, and that was it. Next to me was a boy. He had long, shaggy, black hair, electrifying blue eyes, and a shirt that said, 'My other ride, is a magic broom stick' with a silhouette of a boy flying on a broom underneath.

"Hello class, my name is Ms. Murkafiddle, but you can call me Ms. Murk. Here in my class you are expected to….."

The class went on about her explaining the rules to us. I fell asleep twice and Gale had to wake me up both times.

After Geometry was Spanish. I walked into the classroom. It had deep ocean blue walls and had posters of people saying things in Spanish. My teacher was a man named, Mr. Psychostellar, and, God, his appearance matched with his name. He had blue hair, wore a bright red suit, with the shoes to match, and had purple eyes. He smiled the whole time he talked and his smile made me want to run out of his class, because damn was it scary. I didn't have that class with anyone I knew and kept to myself the whole time.

I went back to my locker after Spanish to find Madge with that Allie girl standing next to her.

"Hey, Madge how's your day been going?" I asked politely as Madge moved out of the way for me to get into my locker.

"Oh it has been so super stellar!" She squeaked. " I have made like, thirty friends already! And this girl name Rachel Nightlock said that I should come to their Glee Club tryouts after school!"

"Oh that sounds fun." I said uninterestedly as I looked for the next books I would need. I had Biology next period.

"Omg I know right? I was thinking you could come tryout with me!" Madge grabbed Allie's arm and started to jump up and down like a caffeinated chipmunk.

"Mhm sure sounds fun." I wasn't paying attention to Madge and just wanted her to go. I had no idea I had just agreed to go sing for a bunch of geeks.

"Ahh yay! What do you have next period? I have Bio and Allie has World History. Let me see your schedule." She picked up my schedule and exclaimed, "Ahhh! Yay! We have Bio together! This is amazing! I'm so happy!"

"Madge, calm down, do you even think before you just go shouting?" This time it wasn't me who insulted Madge. It was Allie. "Like seriously, take a chill pill and mellow down. I'm going to go to World History, but I'll see you at lunch." She said as she walked away.

"Whoa, rude much? Like seriously. Whatever, everyone makes mistakes. Let's go to Bio!"

I got up and walked down the hall as Madge droned on about stuff that I didn't give two shits about. As we walked, I silently prayed that I wouldn't be sitting next to her.

We walked into Bio, and it seemed to be the most normal looking place in the entire school. It had white walls with posters of animals on them, six long desks that sat four to a row, seven on each side, connected to counters that ran down the length of the classroom, and in between every desk in a row was a sink. The teacher looked, well, he looked like a normal teacher. He had thick black hair, thin wired glasses that sat on the tip of his nose, a brown tweed jacket with brown trousers, and a white collared shirt with a brown and yellow striped tie. He sat at his desk in the front of the classroom intently typing something on his laptop. On the board it said his name, Mr. Smith, and then had a seating chart written in big red marker. I was in the fourth row, left side closest to the sink, next to some kid named Devin Hill. I walked to my seat, sat down, and waited for the bell to ring. When it finally rang, Mr. Smith stood up and started introducing himself and what we were going to learn this year.

" This year I'm going to focus you in to the evolution of life, and the ecology of all the living things that surround you daily. We will be doing four dissections; a frog, a starfish, a crayfish, and a pig fetus. That won't be until later in the year tho-" Mr. Smith stopped talking abruptly. There was a quick knocking on the door, and when Mr. Smith opened it, a boy came in. He was thin and about 5'5, he had sea foam eyes and was wearing a plain black shirt, with jeans that had a whole showing his kneecap.

"So nice of you to join us mister…?" Mr. Smith asked the boy at the door.

"I'm Devin Hill." He said in a voice so low that I could barely hear him.

"Excuse me young man? You must speak up and enunciate your words."

"My name's Devin Hill." He said a little bit louder.

"Well Mister Hill, you can go take your seat next to Miss Everdeen. Since it's the first day of the year I'll let you off with a warning, but next time you'll get a detention."

The boy named Devin came over and sat down next to me. When I looked closer I saw that his lip was swollen and bleeding, and where his jeans were ripped, there was a small trickle of blood coming from a scrape in his knee.

"What happened to you?" I whispered to him/

He looked up in surprise and looked at me. Then he looked down and whispered, "I fell. Don't worry about it."

"Okay, sorry." I went back to listening to Mr. Smith, but I couldn't shake the feeling that this kid hadn't really fallen.

After Bio, we had lunch. I walked with Gale, Madge, and Allie.

"How were your first periods?" I asked as I turned to Gale.

"Terrible," he said as we walked up the steps towards the cafeteria. "After Geometry, I had English class, and my teacher's a complete psychopath. She practically called us all stupid when none of us knew how to use the MLA format. And then, after English I had World History and the guy who teaches it looks like he's older than Greasy Sae, and ten times crazier."

"It's true, the guys a complete freak, but I guess he qualifies to teach History because he looks old enough to have been alive when the pilgrims came over." Allie said as we sat down at a table.

"Come on Catnip, let's go get food."

Gale and I passed the table that Madge and Allie were sitting at and went to the back of the cafeteria where a line for the food had started. Gale bought a cheeseburger and Coke for himself, and got me a piece of pizza and a Doctor Pepper.

We went back to the lunch table and sat down. Madge and Allie were looking for the hottest guys and Gale and I started talking about what we were going to do after school.

"Well I was thinking that after work, we could go back to my place with Prim, Rory, Vick, and Posy and just hangout." Gale said as he took a bite out of his cheeseburger. "This shit's disgusting."

I laughed and took a sip of my Doctor Pepper. "Yeah that sounds fun, didn't you guys just get an Xbox?"

"Yeah, and Xbox Live. We can play that if you want."

"I was thinking maybe the kids could play it while we went and did some other activities." I said in a low voice and Gale almost spit out his Coke.

"No way, I just got MW3 and I want to play that shit." Gale winked so I could know he was joking.

"Shut up." I said playfully. "Oh but I think Madge wanted.."

I stop talking as I looked up. I saw that kid, Devin, who sat next to me in Bio, getting pushed around by some seniors.

"Hey, geek, how's it going? Did you enjoy the battle wounds you got this morning? Maybe some girls actually noticed you, you little freak." Said a big guy in a varsity jacket.

"How do you know he actually want's girls to notice him?" Said the guy's friend.

I looked at Gale and he was watching Devin get picked on too. I turned to talk to Madge about it, but she was staring opened mouth, as was Allie.

"We have to do something about it," I said. "No one else is going to."

"I have an idea, you guys want to hear it?" Allie asked.

"Go for it." Gale said as he turned toward her.

Allie explained the plan and we all agreed to it.

Madge and Allie stood up and walked over to Devin.

"Oh, um hi. I'm Madge and this is Allie, and, um, well we think your really cute so here's our numbers." Madge held out a piece of paper that she had written their cell phone numbers on. "Call us sometime."

They giggled and ran back to the table. The jocks and Devin looked really confused and I prayed he would catch on and not look like an idiot. Next up was Gale's turn. He was standing at the other side of the lunch room, and took Madge's cue to walk over.

"Damn, man. Those girls were pretty hot. You must be some kind of player. You want to sit at my table?" Devin just stared at him. "Dude come on, you don't want to hangout with these guys, you'll lose brain cells just by talking to them."

At this point Devin was catching on and agreed to come to our table. The jocks looked pretty pissed off at Gale calling them idiots. Now was my part of the plan.

I walked up to the jocks. "Oh my God, I can't believe you just talked to Devin and lived! He got kicked out of Snow's Academy for beating up their vice principle! They called him Dusty there because wherever he walked people left trails of dust from running away from him. You guys were lucky. Next time you talk to him, might be the last time you talk." I turned around and smirked at the big idiot's dumbstruck faces.

We all sat down, and Devin was shaking like a Chihuahua. Gale was trying to explain what had just happened.

"Listen man, we saw you, and thought we could help. We're not going to hurt you. I promise."

He started to calm down, and looked right at me.

"You, you're in my Biology class."

"Yeah, that's me."

"Why'd you help me?"

"Because I'm not going to stand around while these bullies are making fun of people. I saw what happened to you in third period and Mr. Smith saw it too, he just didn't do anything."

"Well, thank you. Thank you all." He started to get up with his tray of food.

"Whoa, just where do you think you're going?" Allie asked.

"Well, I thought you would want me out of your hair, now that the bullies are leaving me alone." Devin said timidly.

"No way, your part of our group now." Allie stated as Devin sat down.

"Yeah man, plus I need another guy here." Gale said as he held out his fist in anticipation of a fist bump. Devin cowered away from the fist though. "Hey man, don't worry I wont hurt you."

"I think he needs a nickname. Devin sounds to formal." Madge said matter-of-factly.

"I like Katniss' idea of Dusty." Allie said.

"Okay Dusty it is." Madge cheered.

We ate our food and the bell rang for the next period.

The rest of the day went by slowly. I had World History after lunch, and Gale was right. The teacher was crazy. His name was Mr. Sheffield and he was bald, fat, and his skin had a purplish tint to it. He talked about World War Two and how it was a conspiracy against aliens or some shit like that. The boy from my math class sat next to me and gave me a curious look. I shot him back a _what are you looking at look. _

Next period was Intro to Computers. They had Macs lined up, four to a row, three rows on each side of the classroom. My teacher, Ms. Vantrallie, who was about fifty, had bright red hair, and a purple pant suit, said that this class was a joke and we could do anything we wanted on the computers. Except search porn, because she would get in trouble for that. I had that class with Allie and we sat next to each other.

Next, I had English. The teacher, Ms. Fairhair, was a complete bitch. She had white hair, even though she looked about twenty years old, and a bright yellow skirt with a whit blouse. She yelled at us every five seconds and expected us to know how to format perfect sentences, and gave us a quiz on what we knew. The quiz had questions with words I had never even heard of, it was multiple choice though, so I just guessed on everything. I had Dusty in my class but we had assigned seats and we sat across the room from each other

Then I had World Religions. I had that girl Jackie in that class and we sat next to each other, thanks to Mr. Warlo's seating chart. Mr. Warlo had long blond hair and was as pale as a ghost. He wore jeans and a sweatshirt saying, 'Religious tolerance is the REAL way to Heaven.' He droned on about how everyone should be accepted with their religions and I fell asleep. I woke up at the bell, and my pen was missing. I was going to ask Jackie if she had seen it, but she was already gone. I swore at myself for losing it, and went to my locker to get ready for my next period.

For my last period I had Study Hall in the library. Gale had that class with me, which I was ecstatic about. Madge also had that class with me which was fun. We sat in the library talking about the new people we had met.

"I like Allie, it's just she says everything that's on her mind! It's like she doesn't have a filter!" Madge said as she flipped through a fashion magazine.

"She could be your long lost sister, Madge." Gale said as he looked at a book about cars.

"Dusty could use a lesson or two about self defense." I said. I was lying down and had my head on Gale's lap.

"True, hey Gale you go to a gym right? Why don't you take Dusty with you one day?" Madge asked.

Gale and I both started laughing. "Please, Madge he wouldn't even survive the walk over to the gym!" Gale said. "I go to Johanna Gym, down on the South Side."

"Hey, I heard that the daughter of the owner goes here." Madge said.

"She does, I would know. She's my best friend."

Gale, Madge, and I looked over to the person who had said that. He was standing next to a book shelf with a book about wild sea life. He was about six foot, had tan skin, bronze hair and sea green eyes. He looked muscular, lean, and athletic. He looked like a swimmer.

"And who are you?" Gale asked.

"Why, I'm Finnick Odair." Said the boy.

"What year are you?" I asked.

"I'm a junior. So is Johanna." He said coming to sit with us.

"How about you three?"

"we're all sophomores, we transferred here from Seneca High. I'm Madge, this is Gale, and this is Katniss." Madge said as she inched closer to Finnick.

"Nice to meet you three. We kicked your asses in the swim meet last year." Finnick said proudly.

"Oh you swim? That's hot." Madge said.

Gale and I stared at Madge for being so straight forward but Finnick seemed to like it.

"Why thank you Doll Face. Maybe you should come to one of our meets sometime." He said leaning closer to Madge.

"I'd love too." She said moving closer.

"Maybe you could meet my girlfriend." Finnick said with a wink.

Gale and I laughed hysterically as Madge blushed furiously.

"You have a girlfriend? Who?" She said defensively.

"Her name is Annie Cresta. She, um, she doesn't go here."

"Where does she go?" Madge asked curiously.

"A different school, okay? Listen little sophomores, I'm going to go, but if you need anything just ask me. I'll see you around." Finnick stood up and walked away.

"He seems cool." Gale said.

"Yeah, and pretty funny." I said as I looked at Madge.

She blushed again and said, "yeah I'm going to be the one laughing at you at Glee tryouts."

"Fuck, do I really have to go?" I pleaded.

"Yes, yes you do." She said with an evil grin.

"Wait,Glee Club? Are you kidding me?" Gale bust out laughing.

"Shut up Gale, and Madge we have to get there early then because I have to go to work after school."

"I'll go get the kids from school, Katniss, and drop them off at my place. Then if you're not at work by the time I get there I'll explain to Greasy Sae that you're at Glee tryouts." Gale laughed at the last part of what he had said.

The bell rang and we all walked towards our lockers. I promised to meet Madge at the auditorium. I didn't have any homework so I grabbed my messenger bag, and walked toward the auditorium.

There was literally no one else trying out except for me, Madge, and Allie.

"Well hello there, I am Rachel Nightlock and this is the Glee Club teacher, Mr. Shire." Said a girl who had long brown hair and was wearing a dress that looked like it had come out of a nineties television show.

"I'll be going first, my name is Madge and for my audition I'll be singing Don't Rain On My Parade."

"Oh I just love Barbara Streisand!" Rachel screamed.

"Me too!" Madge said.

The music started playing and Madge started singing. She was actually quite good. She held the notes and was never off key. She finished the song and Rachel freaked out at how amazing Madge was.

"That was absolutely amazing! Mrs. Streisand would be so proud of you! I can see us doing some great duets together! Who's next?"

"I am." Allie said. "I'm going to sing Hit The Lights by Selena Gomez."

The band started playing and Allie was almost as good as Madge was. I noticed how similar Madge and Allie were. They were both around 5'4 and were both skinny, but still managed to have curves that I didn't have. The major difference between them though was their hair. While Madge's was bright and blond, Allies was soft and brown.

Allie finished her song and Rachel said that she did very well and then asked me what I was going to sing. I hadn't really thought about it, but I decided on singing Stronger by Kelly Clarkson.

The music started playing and I freaked out. I knew the song by heart but I had major stage fright right now. I could feel my mouth and body moving with the music, but I didn't feel like I was controlling it. I heard my voice and hoped that I wasn't to off key. The music stopped and my heart rate started to slow down. I looked over at Madge and Allie and they were both staring at me with their mouths open.

"What? Was I that bad?" I asked out of breath.

"No Katniss that was, that was phenomenal!" Madge screamed as she ran up and hugged me.

"I guess it was okay, but not as good as Madge or I." Allie said.

I gave her a dirty look. I didn't know why she had said that but maybe Madge was right about her not having a filter.

"Yes! Katniss that was amazing! We would love for all three of you to join the Glee Club!" Rachel said walking up to us.

"Yes, you three would be an amazing addition to our team." Mr. Shire said.

"You know what? I'll get back to you on that, but right now I have to go." I said as I picked up my messenger bag and ran out the door.

I got to the grocery store just as Gale got there.

"Just on time." He said as he pulled me in for a quick kiss.

"Yup, let's go. I want to get this over with." I said.

We walked in and stopped in our tracks. There were clear tarps hanging from the roof on both sides of the store and workers were walking in and out with cans of paint and boards of wood. Greasy Sae walked up to us and started explaining.

"The Blockbuster and Chinese food restaurant both went out of business and I bought them both to expand the store! Isn't it great?" She asked excitedly.

"Yeah, just shocking. What are we going to put in the new spaces?" I asked.

"On the right side, I'm putting in a meat department and on the left side, I'm putting in a bakery! They should be done being built by Friday and instead of paying for new full time workers, I'm hiring part time workers. Adults for the morning and teens for the afternoons. I've sent notices to all of the schools and I've got two kids coming from Snow's Academy, their fathers run the deli a couple streets over. And their going to work in the meat department. Then I've got a boy from Panem High. His father owns the bakery down on Mutt street. Then I've got a girl coming from Cinnas Beauty School and another boy coming from Snow's Academy, both to help you two with stock and the cash registers."

"When do they all start?" Gale asked as he put on his apron uniform.

"The girl from Cinna's, I think her name's Glimmer, and the boy from Snow's Academy, who's name is Marvel, start tomorrow so you can show them around. The rest start on Saturday."

"Okay sounds good." I said.

Work went by slowly, and by the time it was over, Gale and I sprinted out of the store and onto the train where we sat and talked about the day a snuggled up against each other.

When we got back to Gale's apartment, we found all of the kids playing Xbox and Vick saying some very inappropriate things to his opponents. Gale and I went into his bedroom and made out for about 20 minutes. We didn't do anything else though, because the kid's were literally 10 feet away.

Prim and I went home around nine and I asked her how her day was.

"Well, my principle is really weird, but nice, and I've made a lot of friends. My teachers are all very nice too." She stated.

I told her that I thought that was great and she asked me how my day was. I told her it was fine, and I really liked my school. We had dinner without our mother because she was working the late shift at the hospital. I put Prim to bed and then I laid in my bed thinking about the day's previous events. So much had happened that it was hard to keep track of it all. I slowly drifted off to sleep, wondering about how I was expected to survive at this crazy school, without going insane.

* * *

**If you guys watch Glee, I hope you saw how i got Rachel Nightlock hahaha.**


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